Wall Street Zen Upgrades Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) to Buy

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Mueller Water Products Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:MWA opened at $24.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.83. Mueller Water Products has a 12-month low of $17.09 and a 12-month high of $28.58.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $364.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.30 million. Mueller Water Products had a return on equity of 21.18% and a net margin of 10.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Mueller Water Products will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Mueller Water Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were issued a $0.067 dividend. This represents a $0.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. Mueller Water Products’s payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mueller Water Products news, Director Brian C. Healy acquired 1,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.32 per share, with a total value of $27,472.20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,178.40. The trade was a 8.02% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Brian Slobodow sold 7,376 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.57, for a total value of $181,228.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mueller Water Products

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 45,215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Mueller Water Products by 0.8% during the first quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 64,990 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 42,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 73.1% in the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mueller Water Products by 6.0% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 11,726 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. 91.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mueller Water Products

Mueller Water Products, Inc manufactures and markets products and services for the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water used by municipalities, and the residential and non-residential construction industries in the United States, Israel, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions.